Hanussen

Biography movies take famous people lives, process, embellish and make them more interesting. Something different seems to happen with Istvan Szabo's 'Hanussen' - though it does have its doze of processing I have the feeling that the real life of the character was more interesting than the life in the movie.

Eric Jan Hanussen was the stage name of a magician in Berlin's 20s and early 30s. His show were not based on special effects, but on an extraordinary capacity of guessing the thoughts, controlling the minds and foreseeing the future of the people in the audience. We can debate to what extent this was real or con art, but there was something true in his charismatic presence and his power of hypnosis. Janussen however remained in history not by his talent as a magician and not even as a hipnotizer, but because he was capable to predict and express in the language of the magicians the ascension to power of Hitler. What now is history trivia was not that obvious in the 20s and beginning of the 30s and the power of prediction of Hanussen was beyond the general level, reaching the level of detail of the fire that destroyed the Reichstag.

Istavan Szabo film goes however far away from the real Hanussen. A visit on the site of the family http://www.steinschneider.com/biography/hanussen_bio.htm reveals a character even more mysterious and fascinating than in the movie. In reality Hanussen was Jewish, but this fact was not known to his Nazi friends. It is not clear whether he was driven by opportunistic reasons or by fear, or by a combination of both, but the real Janussen seems to have been far from the unwilling person, or even opponent as described in the movie, but may have been rather a real sympathizer. It is even said that he even met Hitler, and taught him some crowd control and staging techniques used later by the dictator in his big mass shows. Hard to say why all these details were not presented in the movie, they could have made the character even more complex and interesting.

Klaus Maria Brandauer's performance is magnificent, he masters the screen as Hanussen must have mastered the stage, it is maybe the best thing that remained from this film, together with the powerful and colorful rendition of the decadent atmosphere of Berlin during the Weimar Rebublic. Yet the real Hanussen may have been even a more fascinating character than Brandauer's Hanussen.

This is the story of the fatal hubris of an artist who vainly tries to maintain neutrality in the face of encroaching Nazism, in order to pursue his brilliant career as a hypnotist and magician. The suspense grows unbearable as the perverse evil intrudes into every aspect of life.

There are wonderful examples of the way the Hitler's propaganda machine co-opts everything in sight, and how people underestimate, over and over again, the lengths he will go to. The character of Bruno Bettelheim, with a clear, humane view of life, appears as a foil to the protagonist who is seduced by his 'art'. I really liked the irony of the man who predicts the future, coming up against his own unrolling fate, as becomes clear in the last, most sinister scene.

This is my favorite of the three Istvan Szabo movies about protagonists trying to control their fate in the web of intrigue of a totalitarian state. It is exciting and provocative.

A German soldier with a serious head wound survives The Great War to become a celebrated clairvoyant in Depression-era Berlin, mesmerizing audiences (and critics) by the sheer force of his personality. No, his stage name isn't Adolph Hitler, but the parallels soon become clear. Are his powers a supernatural gift or merely sensitive guesswork? The question takes on added significance when the apolitical showman begins predicting the rise of fascism and falls under the influence (against his own will) of the fledgling Nazi Party. The film presents an intriguing, if not always cohesive, portrait of an entertainer (and by extension, a nation) under the spell of forces beyond anyone's control, with the title role coming vividly to life in Klaus Maria Brandauer's equally mesmerizing performance. His efforts helped earn the film a nomination for Best Foreign Language Feature, but the results were likely too dark and ambiguous to win the Oscar.

The acting by Klaus Maria Brandauer as Hanussen is top notch. He carries this movie. And all in all I really enjoyed it.

Only the title is a little misleading. Because I never got the feeling it portrays the historic Hanussen. But then again movies seldom stay true to history. But at least they got all the major events right and even Hanussen's stage performance and probably his charisma...

But his character... well, I just feel that he wasn't the kind of person that is being portrayed in this movie - AT ALL! This movie portrays him as an opponent of the Nazis, when in reality he was more of a supporter who fell out of favor due to factional infighting and some miscalculated movies on Hanussen's part.

A lot of people have noticed this and many have asked why he is being portrayed in a purely positive light and as an opponent of the Nazis when in reality he was more like one of Hitler's most important supporters at the time. Personally I think they intentionally altered this aspect. Consider it German censorship. As you can clearly see by watching this movie, German censorship works very different than U.S. censorship. Germans have no problems with displaying tons of unnecessary nudity, sex, alcohol, drug use and swearing - sometimes even in children's movies. But having the protagonist of a movie be a leading Nazi? And on top of that a Jewish Nazi? No way! People in Germany of 1988 weren't ready for that kinda stuff.

In 2007 the Germans made a movie called "My Führer" which also seems to be VERY loosely based on Hanussen. Only this time they finally included scenes of him actually teaching Hitler - something they obviously weren't yet ready for in 1988.

So I actually kinda liked Klaus Maria Brandauer's "fictional" Hanussen more than the historic one - he is definitely more sympathetic. So as long as you separate the Hanussen portrayed in "Hanussen" from the historic Hanussen, then it is a very enjoyable and touching story.

Oh and I feel I have to note that the English subtitles I had aren't exactly the most accurate. A lot of times the subtitles seem to say something completely different than what is being said in German. And while the acting of Klaus Maria Brandauer is awesome, the acting of some of the supporting characters is awful. Now this sounds like a lot of criticism, but actually the movie is still pretty awesome and truly deserves 9 out of 10. If you liked movies like "The Prestige" or "The Illusionist" then this is a must watch!

Of the many Brandauer films I have seen, this is the best. He has a truly extraordinary face and he really acts with his expressions.

As usual,Szabo throws in the Hungarian factor even though most of his films occur outside of his home country. And very little Hungarian is spoken. This character Hanussen is based on a true story, but since I don't believe in the supernatural I can't validate what happens in the film as true. Szabo makes consistently interesting films but it seems that all I have seen has been under Communist rule